"Deer Hunter" is the first important film in the United States to reflect the Vietnam War. When it was released in 1978, the Vietnam War seemed to be a wound that the Americans did not want to touch. The cruel facts turned out to be unbearable for some people. In the movie, North Vietnamese soldiers are depicted as bloodthirsty monsters cruelly torturing captured American prisoners of war and forcing them to play a game of "Russian Roulette". "Russian Roulette" is half fictional and half real, because there is no evidence that North Vietnam condoned such atrocities among American prisoners of war, but this disgusting game is precisely the core of the movie: the fear and human distortion brought about by war . Those who are hunted are hunted and killed. The hunting loses humanity. Every gambling seems to be a cruel metaphor, revealing the meaningless and destructive nature of war naked in front of us, confining our breath.
[About the director]
Michael Cimino was born in New York on February 3, 1943. In 1961, he received a bachelor's degree from Yale University, and a master's degree in 1963.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Cimino spent what was probably the strangest period of his life. First two successful scripts, and then collaborated with Clint Eastwood to film "Thunderbolt and Scud". The film was so popular that he became famous. After the film, Cimino had more funds and freedom to produce his second film: "Deer Hunter". "Deer Hunter" also achieved great success. It won six Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Editing and Best Sound in 1978, and the New York Film Critics Association's work award and supporting actor. Actor Award, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Director Award, and National Film Critics Association Supporting Actress Award. But the good times didn't last long. Cimino fell into a low point in his life after "Deer Hunter". The US$36 million "Gate of Paradise" recovered only a mere 1.5 million, and the box office failed miserably, which directly led to the bankruptcy of United Arts. After that, Cimino’s film never achieved commercial success and film critics. Praise.
Many years later, Cimino still cherished the failure. In an interview in 2002, he insisted that "Heaven's Gate" was a good movie, but it was beyond the comprehension of the audience at the time. In fact, "Heaven's Gate" is not such a bad movie. The films later directed by Cimino also have fine works, but he lives in a commercial country where everyone can speak freely. There is another kind of speech and capital. The form of violence. The collapse of Cimino is quite ironic.
[Cimino's remarks]
Marquez can still win the Nobel Prize for Literature without a publisher. Just like Gide, James Joyce, and Fogner, these people are heroes in my mind.
·They used all the words they could find on me, racist, Marxist, rightist, transgender, homosexual, I don’t know what else they could not think of.
Oliver Falston is a great guy, a great writer. We have a very good working relationship and I like him. However, he is more of a good writer than a director. He doesn't want to be a director, he always wants to be the next Hemingway. I published a novel and he was jealous.
·I am not a politician, "Deer Hunter" is not the result of politicization. What moved me was the heroism shown by ordinary people in the face of war. This is the glory of the United States. But when those bastard members stood on the steps of the Capitol and sang "God Bless America", it was really shit, the movie was over.
[Vietnam War Movie] The
14-year Vietnam War is the longest war in American history. The war not only caused Vietnam to suffer, but also caused the United States to pay a huge price. Sixty thousand American soldiers buried their bones in Vietnam, and countless national financial resources were wasted. More importantly, the war caused tremendous mental trauma to the American people. The inner pain of Americans.
The Vietnam War involved a series of major issues including politics, economy, military affairs, diplomacy, history, etc. Although it is unbearable to look back, looking at the past can be a wake-up call. Thirty years after the end of the war, nearly 500 films with the theme of the Vietnam War appeared in the United States. Movies have become an important form of reflection on the war in this country. Although the good and the bad are mixed, and they often speak from the American standpoint, four of the most outstanding works have appeared in many Vietnam War films: "Deer Hunter", "Apocalypse Now", "Field Platoon", "Full Metal Shell". These four films show the hell-like Vietnam battlefield, the distortion and craziness of human nature in the war to the fullest, making people shudder, showing an unusual depth of reflection.
The war is over, but the reflection on the war will never end, not just for the United States, but for any country in the world.
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